The Alternate Minister of Defence Dimitris Vitsas during an interview to “Paraskinio” Newspaper and to journalist Christos Papoutsis stated the following:

QUESTION 1. How do you evaluate the attitude of the institutional creditors towards our country?

ANSWER : Out objective is clear. By 2018 we should have completed the program and the country should be out of the way of monitoring and towards the path of “regularity”. At the present this means: we should successfully close the second evaluation, without new painful measures,  in the open track towards the adjustment-reduction of the debt. So, the IMF should stop procrastinating and decide whether it will remain in the program or not and the European creditors or the ones who have a negative stance, should accept our so-far successful course and not lead Europe to a new crisis. The arguments I have heard so far are contradictory and  inexcusable based on the technical –financial data. So, this is not an issue of “attitudes” but an issue of political-financial relations. The solution, answer and safety valve to this is to transfer the issue to a central political level, this is our aspiration.  

QUESTION 2. The Greek Government estimates that we should stick to the Euro and the Eurozone, despite the great social cost, especially against the benefit of the poverty stricken fellow citizens, because of the threatening and   ineffective political austerity of our European partners. Isn’t there a “life” without the Eurozone?

ANSWER: This is not an issue for me. The question focusing on the currency either as a means of exchange, or as financial mechanism is fake and is scaremongering at a chaotic level.   Greece is in the Eurozone and it is negotiating within it.  Those talking about going back to the so-called national currency should speak clear: That they mean bankruptcy, a deep interior devaluation and simultaneously a new financial status at global level, with new exchange rates, which simply don’t exist.  Let’s talk about a recent fact. When Mr.Simitis devaluated the drachma, what was he devaluating? And what did that mean?   Does operating within the Eurozone finally mean accepting any demands required of our country? Of course not. Right now, apart from everything else we have the negotiation. The question “euro or national currency” is a silly one, and is promoted by the neoliberals as a threat, and by the interior political cycles as a “wise” solution with covert elements and a hint of a new dependence. The right question is how are we going to get out of the crisis, how can we follow a developmental policy and how do we redistribute the product of growth to the benefit of the weak? This question has nothing to do about the currency, but the financial and social policy. It discriminates between classes and interests and the political forces at national and European level.

QUESTION 3. Turkish officials consider possible an accident in the Aegean, which may trigger a possible incontrollable escalation in the Greek-Turkish relations. Do you share this view?

ANSWER . I would say that we should treat problems under real conditions so that the conclusions we reach are based on specific facts and our own stance should be serious and most of all effective.  What is considered serious by Turkish officials should be cross-checked, we should consider the interior situation in Turkey and the situation in its surroundings.  An accident in the Aegean can not trigger an incontrollable escalation unless, some so desire.   So, we should be, and we are, ready to manage any tension scenario, not because such tension will be caused by an accident but because any accident can lead to a tension strategy in the Aegean. So, we are taking measures, to prevent any accidents, and in any case we are securing our sovereign rights in land, sea and air. Rest assured that this happens in the best possible manner and is effective.

QUESTION 4. When will the special wages regime of the military be submitted? Does it provide for an increase or reductions in the wages of the Armed Forces personnel?

ANSWER : On part of the MoD we are ready but the special wages regime is a wider one and is part of the reforms promoted by the government in the context of the general fiscal readjustment.  What I can say as Alternate Minister is that those serving in the Armed Forces will have no further reduction in their wages.  On the contrary, we are making an effort  to enhance the wages of the personnel, with a positive effect , such is the rationalization of the transfers system, the widening of the accommodation and holidays programs of the personnel and their families.

QUESTION 5.  Are the domestic Units of the Defence Industry viable? What are the plans of the government with regards to the Hellenic Defence Systems,  the Hellenic Defence Industry and the Hellenic and Elefsis Shipyards ?

ANSWER: With respect to the defence industry it is a given that we cannot have a sufficient defence coverage of the country without the domestic defence industry, whether under state or private sector control.  The defence industry is a factor of deterrence power of the Armed Forces . Our priority is to prevent the sudden death, which has been achieved.  For the Hellenic Defence Systems we have secured the recapitalization of debts so that we can deal with the international market. For the Hellenic Defence Industry we have managed to secure the enhancement of the personnel so that they can accomplish their mission. The Hellenic Navy has managed to keep alive the Hellenic Shipyards so that they can go back on their feet again, when other issues are solved. The Hellenic Navy has contributed significantly to the continuation of the operation of the Hellenic Shipyards. The Hellenic shipbuilding industry has a bright future ahead of it, things are becoming more hopeful.